{"id":87509,"date":"2017-10-25T08:44:15","date_gmt":"2017-10-25T12:44:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=87509"},"modified":"2017-10-25T08:45:05","modified_gmt":"2017-10-25T12:45:05","slug":"dnc-clinton-campaign-knew-they-were-paying-for-a-fabricated-dossier-on-trump","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=87509","title":{"rendered":"DNC & Clinton Campaign Knew They Were Paying For A Fabricated Dossier On Trump"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Christopher Steele, a former British intelligence officer, in London in March. Credit Victoria Jones\/Press Association, via Associated Press<\/p><\/div>\n

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Clinton Campaign and Democratic Party Helped Pay for Russia Trump Dossier<\/h2>\n

By KENNETH P. VOGEL
\nThe New York Times<\/p>\n

WASHINGTON \u2014 The presidential campaign of Hillary Clinton and the Democratic National Committee paid for research that was included in a\u00a0dossier made public in January<\/a>\u00a0that contained salacious claims about connections between Donald J. Trump, his associates and Russia.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for a law firm said on Tuesday that it had hired Washington-based researchers last year to gather damaging information about Mr. Trump on numerous subjects \u2014 including possible ties to Russia \u2014 on behalf of the Clinton campaign and the D.N.C.<\/p>\n

The revelation, which emerged from a\u00a0letter\u00a0<\/a>filed in court\u00a0<\/a>on Tuesday, is likely to fuel new partisan attacks over\u00a0federal and congressional investigations<\/a>\u00a0into Russia\u2019s attempts to disrupt last year\u2019s election and whether any of Mr. Trump\u2019s associates assisted in the effort.<\/p>\n

The president and his allies have argued for months that the investigations are politically motivated. They have\u00a0challenged<\/a>\u00a0the information contained in the dossier, which was compiled by a former British spy who had been contracted by the Washington research firm Fusion GPS.<\/p>\n

The letter that was filed in court said that Fusion GPS began working for the law firm, Perkins Coie, in April 2016. Written by the firm\u2019s managing partner Matthew J. Gehringer, the letter said that Fusion GPS had already been conducting the research \u201cfor one or more other clients during the Republican primary contest.\u201d<\/p>\n

Perkins Coie was paid $12.4 million to represent the Clinton campaign and the D.N.C. during the 2016 campaign, according to filings. The role of the Clinton campaign and the national party in funding the research for the dossier was\u00a0first reported<\/a>\u00a0on Tuesday by The Washington Post.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Marc Elias outside the Supreme Court in Washington last year.\u00a0CreditJ. Scott Applewhite\/Associated Press<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

At the time that Democrats began paying for the research, Mr. Trump was in the process of clinching the Republican presidential nomination, and Ms. Clinton\u2019s allies were scrambling to figure out how to run against a candidate who had already weathered attacks from Republican rivals about his shifting policy positions, his character and his business record.<\/p>\n

Fusion GPS hired Christopher Steele, a respected former British spy with extensive experience in Russia, to conduct research into any possible connections between Mr. Trump, his businesses, campaign team and Russia.<\/p>\n

Mr. Steele produced a series of memos that alleged a broad conspiracy between the Trump campaign and the Russian government to influence the 2016 election on behalf of Mr. Trump. The memos also contained unsubstantiated accounts of encounters between Mr. Trump and Russian prostitutes, and real estate deals that were intended as bribes.<\/p>\n

The contents of the memos circulated in Washington in late 2016, and were briefed to Mr. Trump by senior American intelligence officials during the presidential transition. The memos, which became known as the \u201cSteele Dossier,\u201d were made public by Buzzfeed \u2014 sparking an ongoing debate about their accuracy and about who funded the research.<\/p>\n

Fusion GPS was started by three former Wall Street Journal employees. The firm worked directly with Perkins Coie and its lead election lawyer, Marc Elias, according to the law firm spokesperson, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive information about confidential business relationships. The law firm\u2019s payments to Fusion GPS for the Russia research ended just before Election Day, the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

The spokesperson said that neither the Clinton campaign, nor the D.N.C., was aware that Fusion GPS had been hired to conduct the research.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, Mr. Elias had denied that he had possessed the dossier before the election.<\/p>\n

Anita Dunn, a veteran Democratic operative working with Perkins Coie, said on Tuesday that Mr. Elias \u201cwas certainly familiar with some of, but not all, of the information\u201d in the dossier. But, she said \u201che didn\u2019t have and hadn\u2019t seen the full document, nor was he involved in pitching it to reporters.\u201d And Mr. Elias \u201cwas not at liberty to confirm Perkins Coie as the client at that point,\u201d Ms. Dunn said.<\/p>\n

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Hillary Clinton with Brian Fallon, her campaign\u2019s national press secretary, last year. On Tuesday, Mr. Fallon said he did not know that the author of a dossier on Mr. Trump was working on behalf of Mrs. Clinton\u2019s campaign.\u00a0CreditBrendan Smialowski\/Agence France-Presse \u2014 Getty Images<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Brian Fallon, who served as a spokesman for the Clinton campaign, on Tuesday\u00a0wrote on Twitter<\/a>\u00a0that he did not know that Mr. Steele had been working on behalf of the Clinton campaign before the election.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I had, I would have volunteered to go to Europe and try to help him,\u201d Mr. Fallon wrote.<\/p>\n

A lawyer and spokeswoman for Fusion GPS did not respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n

A spokeswoman for the D.N.C. sought to distance the national party from the work, noting that the party\u2019s chairman, Tom Perez, was elected only after last year\u2019s election. He and his leadership team \u201cwere not involved in any decision-making regarding Fusion GPS, nor were they aware that Perkins Coie was working with the organization,\u201d said Xochitl Hinojosa, the D.N.C. spokeswoman.<\/p>\n

The work by Fusion GPS on the dossier has come under scrutiny from congressional investigators, who have questioned one of its founders and subpoenaed its banking records to try to determine who funded the research.<\/p>\n

Fusion GPS is fighting the subpoena in federal court, and Mr. Gehringer\u2019s letter was produced in connection with that legal case.<\/p>\n

In the letter, Mr. Gehringer praised Fusion GPS for its \u201cefforts to fulfill your obligation to maintain client confidentiality. In the circumstances, however, we believe it is appropriate to release Fusion GPS from this obligation as it relates to the identity of Perkins Coie.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. Gehringer added that,<\/strong>\u00a0\u201cgiven the interest in this issue, we believe it would be appropriate for all parties who hired Fusion GPS in connection with the 2016 presidential campaign to release Fusion GPS from this obligation as well.\u201d<\/p>\n